Lottery: The farce gets worse

by JO BUTLER and DAVID WILLIAMS, Daily Mail

Outrage over the £340,000 lottery handout to an anti-deportation group deepened last night after it emerged that it is championing the case of two Palestinian bombers and an Islamic cleric said to be a 'danger to national security'.

There was anger last week when the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, which fights for asylum seekers whose cases have been rejected, received the grant from the lottery's Community Fund.

The group is demanding the repeal of Britain's immigration laws, and on its website claims that the Government is 'hounding' illegal immigrants.

It also accuses Home Secretary David Blunkett of 'colluding with fascism' and denounces the new Asylum Bill as 'a monstrous Big Brother observation regime'.

Bombers Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh and Pakistani Shafique Ur Rehman are among 44 cases supported by the group.

Alami and Botmeh were convicted of the 1994 bombings of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish charity in London.

Rehman, 30, from Oldham, has been fighting deportation through the courts for four years. MI5 alleged he supported a Kashmiri terrorist group and raised funds for a group banned after the September 11 atrocity.

The cases raise disturbing questions about whether the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns is suitable to receive funds over other organisations.

The Birmingham-based group, which has been operating since 1995, is opposed to all deportations and promotes the cases on its website, which also advertises 'a network of

activists' around the country.

It claims to have been successful in 90 per cent of its campaigns. It says its main funding over the past three years has come from the lottery.

After the row over the £340,000 grant blew up, she said it was up to the Community Fund how it spent its money.

But it emerged last night that guidelines which she personally approved in April paved the way for millions of pounds in lottery cash to be spent on asylum seekers and refugees - including the NCADC.

The revelation could put her on a collision course with Mr Blunkett, who has said he is alarmed at the handout.

Yesterday Mrs Jowell said: 'I think that there are two very simple questions we need to address.

'First, is lottery money being used for political purposes? Secondly, is there any evidence that this organisation encourages people to break the law?

'My interest, and David Blunkett's, is maintaining public confidence in the lottery, so people can believe that the 28p from every pound they spend on a lottery ticket that goes to good causes is well spent.'

But the revelations that she approved the prioritisation of lottery funds to refugees and asylum seekers look set to cause a rift with Mr Blunkett.

There was speculation yesterday that the pressure to act over the NCADC money came from the Home Secretary.

He was said to be furious that lottery cash was going to a body dedicated to thwarting the immigration system. Although groups funded by the lottery are allowed to campaign, they are banned from involvement in political activity.

A Government insider said: 'We will argue this is political activity. This group claims nobody should be deported. They are undermining the system.'

The Community Fund is run independently of Ministers, although Mrs Jowell is responsible for appointing the chairman and its board.

Members have been summoned to Whitehall to explain why they want to hand over the £340,000.

A Home Office source said it was a 'massive own goal' by the Community Fund.